douggw

Going to Olbia in June, 10-6 ship time, which I believe is 1 hour behind Olbia's time. Wanted to do the 4 hour snorkel to Tavolara but it leaves a 9am. Thought about pre-booking a Tuk-Tuk tour "archelogy tour" but they too don't match up with the times we will get in port. Are there tuk-tuks we can just get when we get off the ship to take us to Pedres castle, giant tomb etc? or do I need to keep looking and try to pre-book them? Thank you!

As MapleLeaves said, very easy. We went there last October, first time, and had no issues. Do your homework ahead of time though if you are DIY. I did a lot of research about each "town", which hikes to do (we did one of the two that cost, but well worth it!) - Corniglia to Vernazza, know about the "secret" bus to take you to the top of Corniglia so you don't have to walk up the hundreds of steep stairs, GO EARLY, GO EARLY! We hit all 5 "towns" and it was amazing, but we did not do them in order, because we wanted to do the hike early before it got hot and crowded. I have pics on my blog of each one as well a lot of pics from the hike - http://gwilliamhouse.blogspot.com/2022/11/european-cruise.html Cinque Terra starts about 1/4 of the way down the blog.

Just got back from doing this tour. It's not a bad tour, but what you get isn't quite what is indicated on the website. Basically, it's a very expensive speedboat ride. Since it's a "Carnival Special", it's only for those arriving to La Romana on Carnival, which is usually in port for only 6 hours. They whisk you away quickly into pre-reserved taxis for a 15-20 minute ride to Bayahibe, where you pay and get into groups for the speedboat. The boat is small and packed with people. It's a bumpy 30-40 minute ride to Soana Island. You have a pretty good buffet lunch once you arrive and total, (including lunch) have about 75 minutes on the island. The island is beautiful, not very crowded, with a small beach and plenty of palm trees/shade and chairs. You then get back into the boat and ride 15-20 minutes to a small sand dune which is waist deep and everyone walks or snorkels around the small area to find the 15 or so starfish that are there. There is nothing else to see except sand. Then it's back in the boat to return another 20-30 minutes where the taxis are waiting to take you back to the ship. So here's the time breakdown: Speedboat total time - 65-90 minutes Taxi - 30-40 minutes Starfish - 20 Time on island (including lunch) - 75 So you're on the boat longer than anything and the entire trip is 3 - 3 1/2 hours. Website also says you sail along the coast of the National Park and the guide will explain you some of the sites and history. This doesn't happen. The boat follows the coastline, but it's far out and no guided talks - it's way too noisy for anyone to eve talk. Website says on the island, the guide will take you snorkeling at the pier - this doesn't happen. Website says on the way back, you go through the Mangroves and guide will explain this. The boat takes the same route as it did on the way there - no Mangroves, no guided explanation. It's not a bad tour, it's just very rushed and you spend more time on the speedboat than you do anything else and for that, it's an expensive speedboat ride.

That's what a was thinking. But then one tour operator told me the "Port Authority" says we dock at 9am Aruba time........so thank you for confirming.

Anyone who has been on Carnival to Aruba, does the ship change times? I assumed, like many cruises, it does not and remains Florida time. From what I've been able to tell, this would be 1 hour ahead of Florida time. We are to be in Aruba from 9am-10pm - so that would be ship time, right? Aruba time would be 10am-11pm? Or so I thought. I went to book an all day excursion from a local tour operator and it starts at 9am Aruba time. I thought i would miss the first hour and they said due to Daylights Savings Time, it would actually be 10am Aruba time and I'd miss two hours. Then I talked to another tour operator who had a tour also starting at 9am said they checked with the "port authorities" and the ships 9am arrival time is Aruba time. So I'm very confused. I have three different times here. Florida +1 hour, Florida +2 hours, and 9am Aruba time. I think it's Florida +1, but then again, I never was good with numbers.

Thanks so much for your honest description of Sa Calobra.......puts in perspective! I also thought that is a lot of time to be in port. I do like your idea of going to Valdermossa instead. Thank you so much for your help! You are amazing. And if your lunch plans change, let me know! 🙂

Wow and wow. I wish every city had a thread like this! SO helpful! Will be arriving Friday October 21 9a,-11pm on MSC Grandiosa, so pretty sure docking at the newer terminal. Is it doable to do the Train/Tram to Soller and back AND the Drach caves? If not, we will focus on Soller, but want to add in Sa Calobra. I see a local tour group that does this tour, but they don't do it on Fridays, but it seems pretty easy to do DIY. Taxi/Bus to Train Station, 1st or 2nd Train to Soller, spend some time there....Tram to Soller Port, and once there, I believe can get boat to Sa Calobra and back. Then either taxi or Tram & Train back. What am I missing? Also, Roger, lunch is on me - where should we meet you for lunch? (I'm serious)

Mapleleaves, do you have a write up or more information on this? Will be porting there in October and very interested in DIY ferry and walking. Thank you!!

I would think that's totally fine too. I wish we docked earlier....maybe will, but don't want to take that chance.

Ha ha...I guess that answers my question! 🙂

Will be disembarking MSC - says they arrive at 8am in Barcelona. I know the airport is about 20-30 mins away and will be getting a flight to Paris, so not returning to US yet. Will I have to go through any kind of customs still? Is a 9:30am flight to Paris too early?

I'm looking at the feasibility of doing the waterfalls on my own. "Private" tours run around $65 pp, so for four that would be $250 I looked at rental car prices which would be around $80 for the day and admission to the waterfalls are around $12 I think, so that would be $133. Am I missing something here? This seems like a tour that would be fairly easy to DIY. Anyone who has done it on their own have any tips/ideas/thoughts? Thank you!